National Minimum Wage

The following hourly rates apply from 1 April 2017:

• The national living wage (workers aged 25 and over) is £7.50.
• The standard adult rate (workers aged between 21 and 24) is £7.05.
• The development rate (workers aged between 18 and 20) is £5.60.
• The young worker’s rate (workers aged under 18 but above the compulsory school age who are not apprentices) is £4.05.
• The rate for apprentices is £3.50.

Are headscarf bans permitted?

The European Court of Justice has ruled that a company’s dress code which banned employees from wearing an Islamic headscarf could be justified on its facts. The case has been widely misreported in the media as ‘permitting head scarf bans’ when this is not the case. Of key relevance here was that the employee was in a customer-facing role and the company had a policy of religious and political neutrality for such positions which affected all employees. The onus is on every employer to ensure they can justify their dress codes from a discrimination perspective.